An antique quilt is defined as a quilt that is more than 100 years old. Some antique quilts were made from new fabric, but typically were made from the clothes, blankets and other textiles that could be found in most homes across the country.
An antique quilt can come in any shape, color, pattern or size. The patchwork quilt, as such, has come to be a distinctly American art form indigenous to our native soil and well embedded in the background of our national consciousness.

We now know that almost all American antique quilt patterns found their roots in African American tribal patterns. There were often hidden messages in many of the patterns and stitches of quilts that were used as directional signals for travelers on the Underground Railroad.